By H H Mohrmen
The war cry during the Hill State movement which reverberated over the hills and mountains of this region was ‘No Hill State No Rest.’ Now 50 years later the people need to come up with a new slogan.
Not learning from history
The main factor which helped strengthen the bond between the people of the three regions was the need to protect their unique culture. This was clear from the statement made by Captain W.A. Sangma in one of his speeches during the Hill State Movement. But it was the imposition of Assamese on the hills tribes which was the last straw that led to the fight for a separate hill state.
Many of our young citizens would perhaps not be familiar with the stories of the Hill State Movement for lack of information on the subject. This part of the history of the state was not considered important and the Hill State Movement was not even included in the school or college syllabus of Meghalaya. The pertinent question is why is the history of the Hill State Movement not popular? One also wonders if we have research scholars who had done studies on the movement.
A wise man once said life is like a marksman shooting an arrow from his bow; the farther he pulls the string backwards, the further the arrow will fly. If we do not know our history, we will not know where we are heading. Perhaps this is also the reason why the state has not developed as was expected. It seems like we do not want to understand the foundation on which the movement was launched and the ideals which helped sustain the movement and which also inspired the leaders to fight till the goal was achieved. There is also a saying that those who forget history are bound to repeat it. That is why the state is still under-developed because we are not learning from history.
In the absence of any form of history about the movement, young people are denied of the opportunity to learn about the influential personalities who had led the movement to victory. Hopefully the 50th statehood anniversary will help spark interest amongst students and researchers to conduct a comprehensive research on the movement which started in June 1952. Hopefully the life history of leaders like Captain W.A. Sangma, H.S. Lyngdoh, G.G. Swell, P.R. Kyndiah, Hoover Hynniewta, B.B. Lyngdoh, P.R. Mawthoh, Moristo Swer, Rokendro Dkhar, Gilfred S. Giri and women leaders like Rose Warjri, Filtina Lyndem, Mera Malniang, Lina Adel Laloo, and any others will come to light one day.
I was born five years before the state was carved out of the composite state of Assam, so what I learned about the Hill State Movement was from second hand sources. It good to know that B.M. Lanong has on the occasion of the golden jubilee of statehood celebration published a book on the movement which will help fill the gaps due to the lack of comprehensive information about the movement. No doubt articles and letters to the editor which related to the movement published by various newspapers both vernacular and English will help those who are interested in garnering more information about this important part of the history of the State. In fact, even posts and uploads on social media will also help provide the much needed information about the Movement.
No development no rest
For the generation of people who are living fifty years after statehood was granted, the question that we need to ask is ‘What is there for us to be proud of in our region getting statehood’? Are we proud of what the state has achieved in the last fifty years? The means to measure the progress of state is to go back to the three common paradigms used to gauge development of the state or the region. Let us begin by examining how the state has fared in its efforts to address the important issue of Poverty, Ignorance and Diseases (PID).
It will be unfair to say that the state has not developed since it began its journey fifty years ago. We now have roads where none existed before and we have improved and widened the existing roads. The example that comes to mind is the Jowai-Shillong road which has improved from the condition that it was since the writer was a kid. Add to that we have the Shillong bypass to help ease traffic congestion in Shillong. The pertinent question is about the quality of the state roads which are still in a very poor condition. The sub-standard quality of these state roads is because of the contractor-politician nexus. Even roads constructed under RIDF which is a loan provided by NABARD suffers the same fate because the construction was implemented by the state PWD. However, the quality of roads constructed under central schemes like NHAI and PMGSY which is being monitored by external agencies are much better than the state roads.
In the last 50 years many farmers have finally graduated from being mere subsistence farmers who grow food for their own use only, to engaging in commercial farming. Yet their income has not improved as expected because the market is still being controlled by the intermediaries or middlemen. A lot remains to be done to help the farmers which are also the largest work force in the state.
In the field of education too, the development and progress that we see is not because of the government but despite government intervention. In fact, had it not been for the involvement of the private agencies and primarily faith organizations, the state would not have seen progress in education as we are witnessing now.
Similarly in the health care sector, private agencies which include churches have contributed immensely in providing health care to the people. The government health care institutions particularly those in the rural areas, still lack necessary manpower, basic medical equipment like X-ray machines and CT-Scans among others. Government many a times even failed to supply basic drugs to these centers.
In the State’s battle against poverty, it is not enough to put entire emphasis on rural areas and the farmers only. Meghalaya has grown by leaps and bounds and the state which started with three districts and their respective headquarters has experience exponential growth in the last 50 years. From three there are now 12 districts with equal numbers of headquarters in the entire state. In all these emerging urban areas, the number of urban poor has also increased. In the near future the Government needs to put more efforts in tackling the problems faced by the urban poor too.
Meghalaya has done well in providing education from lower to secondary level but higher education is still beyond the reach of the poor sections of the population. The need of the hour is for the State to make higher education free and accessible at the door step of the people.
In providing health care the government needs to ensure that PHCs and CHCs have the required manpower and also equip the centers with the necessary medical infrastructures. The PHCs and the CHCs should also be able to provide medicines to the people who visit these centers.
For the State to be able to develop and rid itself of PID problems, its people need to wholeheartedly engage in the democratic process at all times. Right now the people of the state engage in the democratic process during election only – once in five years that is. The duty of the citizen is to engage in the democratic process and question their leaders all the time. Meghalaya can only reach its full potential when we have legislators who understand their role and responsibilities as leaders of a democratic state. For Meghalaya to develop, the people should understand the basic principles of democracy – that democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people. The people need to understand that they are the masters and they should always put their leaders to task. The new slogan for the people of the state should now be “No Development No Rest.”
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